Enough Live Rock

[JMorris271]

I had another post about a dry rock setup on another forum which has run it's course. I made changes and added 20 LBs of TB live rock.
Here is a what of it for your opinion.This tank is a 120 gal. View attachment 332559

View attachment 332560
Thanks

 

[Dmorty217]

It's up to you how you choose to have biological filtration on your tank. Dry rock is obviously just that, dry. It will have a large bio capacity depending on how many lbs and what type of rock it is. Adding 20lbs of live rock will really add some diversity to your dry rock and tank. I use dry rock in my tanks along with cermedia blocks and Siprorax pond media to provide the biological filtration on my tanks

 

[m0nkie]

are you asking if 20lbs of LR is enough to cycle those dry rocks? If so, yes! I only use 1 piece of LR to cycle a new tank. I also put in some ammonia to feed those bacteria on the rocks.

If you are asking does your tank have enough rocks. - looks plenty enough.

I went with minimalistic rocks in display and a bunch of ceramic blocks in the sump. Those ceramic blocks are extremely porous, works better than rocks imo.

 

[JMorris271]

are you asking if 20lbs of LR is enough to cycle those dry rocks? If so, yes! I only use 1 piece of LR to cycle a new tank. I also put in some ammonia to feed those bacteria on the rocks.

If you are asking does your tank have enough rocks. - looks plenty enough.

I went with minimalistic rocks in display and a bunch of ceramic blocks in the sump. Those ceramic blocks are extremely porous, works better than rocks imo.

I just heard about the porous stuff a few days ago. I suppose I have heard about LR for so long and never had any, I just had to try it. Now that makes sense right?:uhoh3:

 

[m0nkie]

more porous rocks = more places for bacteria = more filtration for your tank.

that's why not all rocks are the same. some are more porous.. for us, the more porous ones are better. live or not doesn't matter in the long run. All you need is 1 live rock to bring all other dead rocks live.

the ceramic blocks we are talking about are man made. they are a million times more porous than regular rocks. That's why they are great for filtration. But do more research if you want to use these blocks. Some ppl suggest it leaks aluminum into tank in the long run

 

[TheReeferer]

I would try to stack it so there is more room in the structure. Use putty. Right now it seems too dense, a pile of rocks

 

[PhaneSoul]

More rock doesnt mean more bacteria. More nutrients, more detritus, more garbage laying around to rot means more bacteria. Just because there is real estate doesnt mean they dont need food to live.

 

[JMorris271]

I do have a 6 inch gap in back of the rock. Dense it is not. I can move rock more to the back and have about 4 more inches in the front. I'm not so concerned with a wall appearance as I am having condos for the critters and shelving for the coral. There are plenty of tunnels for flow through current to keep detritus moving and hopefully have enough to feed my inverts. Can someone suggest how I can raise this display to a height without building higher to place coral in high light?

@Phanesol
I am not sure I get what you are saying. More bio filtration (rock), always means more bio bacteria growth. I believe the key not to overload a system to the point that a filter system can't process the load. That is the meaning of having a balanced aquarium.
I do appreciate your comment. JM2C

 

[JMorris271]

I would try to stack it so there is more room in the structure. Use putty. Right now it seems too dense, a pile of rocks

I thought about putty or glue but prefer to have instead made darn sure the the rock is interlocking to allow easier removial if necessary

 

[PhaneSoul]

@Phanesol
I am not sure I get what you are saying. More bio filtration (rock), always means more bio bacteria growth. I believe the key not to overload a system to the point that a filter system can't process the load. That is the meaning of having a balanced aquarium.
I do appreciate your comment. JM2C

The rock is not the biofiltration. The bacteria are. Bacteria grow to their resources available. You can have 10 fish and 20 pounds of rock and it will have the same bio capacity as having 10 fish and 100 pounds of rock. In a perfectly clean tank.

I have to add that last part because as you put more rock in the system, that rock will trap more detritus and thus more bacteria will grow to process that waste, its a waste of biofiltration adding to the total nitrogen and phosphate content in the tank or excess nutrients.

 

[JMorris271]

The rock is not the biofiltration. The bacteria are. Bacteria grow to their resources available. You can have 10 fish and 20 pounds of rock and it will have the same bio capacity as having 10 fish and 100 pounds of rock. In a perfectly clean tank.

I have to add that last part because as you put more rock in the system, that rock will trap more detritus and thus more bacteria will grow to process that waste, its a waste of biofiltration adding to the total nitrogen and phosphate content in the tank or excess nutrients.

I agree with your 10/20 example. Having more rock in a tank gives the microbes more surface area to grow should it be needed PROVIDED they have abundant food [I understand the function of the rock :lolspin:] Should I want more fish or whatever later a can add them. You know the old saying, "Go as large as you can afford to give you room for expansion". I would rather be over sized now than regret I didn't add more later. As to the crapola settling,
I do have very good power heads to help with keeping that detritus moving about.
BTW I have removed some of the rock.

 

[m0nkie]

unfortunately your only option for building higher rock is through rockscaping, stacking, or magnet rocks.

I use E Marco 400, a reef safe cement, to build my rockscape. It cures within 15 minutes and won't mess with tank PH like normal cement.
here's my latest work, eel tank. the darker looking cement is E Marco.

Another possible option is buying rocks with magnets sealed in. You can leave it anywhere on glass backwall. However, I don't recommend magnets for long term reefing. You never know when it might leak something into the tank.

your last option is stack stack stack. I think the flat wall look is great for SPS tank. Plenty of room for corals and in 2 years, you won't see any rocks.

 

[m0nkie]

The rock is not the biofiltration. The bacteria are. Bacteria grow to their resources available. You can have 10 fish and 20 pounds of rock and it will have the same bio capacity as having 10 fish and 100 pounds of rock. In a perfectly clean tank.

I have to add that last part because as you put more rock in the system, that rock will trap more detritus and thus more bacteria will grow to process that waste, its a waste of biofiltration adding to the total nitrogen and phosphate content in the tank or excess nutrients.

I understand your idea. However, 10lbs of rocks leaves you with 10lbs-rock surface area for bacteria to conquer. Bacteria need surface living space just like everything else. They don't just flow around the water column. If you want more bacteria, you put more rocks because there's more surface area.

with your example, if you want 30 fish, your 10lb of rocks won't handle it.. you will need to do manual waste removal. Or you add more rocks, more space to sustain more bacteria, to break down more waste

this is why some folks like us use ceramic blocks. Man made with millions of pores.. every little hole creates more surface area for bacteria to grow. So one ceramic block will be MUCH more efficient than a rock of same size. (if you ignore the aluminum issue)

 

[JMorris271]

this is why some folks like us use ceramic blocks. Man made with millions of pores.. every little hole creates more surface area for bacteria to grow. So one ceramic block will be MUCH more efficient than a rock of same size. (if you ignore the aluminum issue)

So are you retailing these? :lol2:

 

[JMorris271]

unfortunately your only option for building higher rock is through rockscaping, stacking, or magnet rocks.

I use E Marco 400, a reef safe cement, to build my rockscape. It cures within 15 minutes and won't mess with tank PH like normal cement.
here's my latest work, eel tank. the darker looking cement is E Marco.

Another possible option is buying rocks with magnets sealed in. You can leave it anywhere on glass backwall. However, I don't recommend magnets for long term reefing. You never know when it might leak something into the tank.

your last option is stack stack stack. I think the flat wall look is great for SPS tank. Plenty of room for corals and in 2 years, you won't see any rocks.

Truly very cool.:thumbsup:

No matter weather its glued or puttied, won't a horizontal and high display look like a wall of rock??

 

[m0nkie]

Truly very cool.:thumbsup:

No matter weather its glued or puttied, won't a horizontal and high display look like a wall of rock??

it really depends on how you do it. I prefer island looks. here's how my display tank looks

you can compare it to my grow out tank to the left. That one I just stacked rocks.. all i needed was room to place frags. It grew out pretty nice once corals covered the rocks.

So are you retailing these? :lol2:

lol.. no I buy them from Amazon.

 

[JMorris271]

You have some nice looking pieces of coral rock there. Where do you find that kind of looking stuff?
That"s a nice template on you work table. Is that, doing rock displays a continuous thing you do?

 

[JMorris271]

Last weeks rockscape

View attachment 332722



This weeks rockscape

View attachment 332723

 

[m0nkie]

You have some nice looking pieces of coral rock there. Where do you find that kind of looking stuff?
That"s a nice template on you work table. Is that, doing rock displays a continuous thing you do?

I got lot of help with the rockscape from local reefers. We made it from Emarco400 and base rocks. There's some nice tonga rock in there too. We pretty much just sat there and started stacking rocks until we liked the structure.. the Emarco works like fast drying cement so it's not too hard to design shapes. I like to keep the base small. Sometimes I use acrylic rods inside to build a supporting legs, then use cement to cover it.

Your rockscape may work depending on your lighting system and what you want to keep. LPS will grow anywhere on the rocks or sandbed. However, if you want SPS, you only have the few spots up top. The only way around that would be strong lighting and high par. However, that will fry some LPS..

If you can try incorporate some larger holes or caves in there, it would look really nice with fish swimming through them. I personally prefer a more 3 dimensional view. so fish are able to swim backward and forward, not just left and right.

no sump design? are you using a filter?

 

[m0nkie]

if you don't want it so clustered, you can always try multiple island look. make one island a little bigger.

google image.